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Andrew Simms at Oxford Literary Festival

Oxford Literary Festival

Cancel The Apocalypse

By
Andrew Simms

Beyond despair and denial, a fascinating look at progressive ways to stop the world falling apartEver get the feeling that things are falling apart? You're not alone. From bad banks to global warming it can all look hopeless, but what if everything could turn out, well, even better than before? What if the only thing holding us back is a lack of imagination and a surplus of old orthodoxies? It's a topsy-turvy world in which a country can import the same amount of ice-cream, toilet paper and other goods to trading partners as it exports, and where top bankers are paid millions for destroying economic value, while hospital cleaners create value many times their pay. In fascinating and iconoclastic detail - on everything from the cash in your pocket to the food on your plate and the shape of our working lives - Cancel the Apocalypse describes how the relentless race for economic growth is not always one worth winning, how excessive materialism has come at a terrible cost to our environment, and hasn't even made us any happier in the process. Simms believes passionately in the human capacity for change, and shows how the good life remains in our grasp. While global warming and financial meltdown might feel like modern day horsemen of the apocalypse, Simms shows how such end of the world scenarios offer us the chance for a new beginning.Once again Andrew Simms has written a book full of passion as well as abundant theory, fact and analysis, integrating economics and ecology to create a vision for a positive future. And Simms recommends a simple test for any new policy or proposal: will it increase pressure on the biosphere, will it lead to a more equal distribution of wealth and income, and will it enhance human well-being? Here is a viable and attractive alternative to the flawed and senseless pursuit of growth at all costsAndrew Simms is relentlessly smart: here he's produced the most comprehensive survey yet of all the answers already at our fingertips to the problems that are overwhelming us. Greed and inertia may prevent action, but we can no longer claim ignorance as an excuseAndrew Simms is the author of several books including the bestselling Tescopoly. He is a Fellow of nef (the new economics foundation), trained at the London School of Economics and was described by New Scientist magazine as, 'a master at joined-up progressive thinking.' He is also one of the UK's leading campaigners who coined the term 'Clone Towns,' co-authored the groundbreaking Green New Deal, was one of the original organisers of the campaign to cancel poor country debt, and devised how to mark the day in the year when the world enters 'ecological debt.' Andrew witnessed first hand for more than twenty years failed international efforts to solve critical economic and environmental problems, from extreme poverty to climate change. This book is the result of his search for something better.From the author of Tescopoly which sold over 32,000 copies.Simms is a regular on Newsnight and Radio 4.